IBTPOTY2017 Pictures of the week
30 November 2017: Snow falls around The Angel of North near Gateshead, England Lee Smith/Reuters

UK residents who endured a freezing week could be set for some slightly warmer weather, the Met Office says.

Benson, Oxfordshire dropped to -5.3 degrees on 30 November after arctic winds covered the UK, but according to the Met Office, a "warm front" is inbound. "That is going to bring a little bit of rain and drizzle, and it will rain and drizzle and not snow, apart from the tops of the hills in Scotland - and increasing amounts of cloud as well," a Met Office spokesman said according to the Independent.

"It will really bring a bit of change, so a calmer outlook, more settled, bit of cloud around, and that is really the same through the weekend. After a benign couple of days, frosts will become less widespread as we go through the weekend and into the beginning of next week."

London's 10-day forecast even predicts the mercury climbing back in to double figures. 6 December could reach 11 degrees. "We are expecting things to turn a little bit wetter and windier for a time by the middle of next week, before things turn cold again," the spokesman said.

While the slightly improved weather will come as a reprieve, UK residents are warned to brace for the coldest winter in five years. According to the Weather Company and Weather Outlook, temperatures could fall as low as -12 degrees in the north and -8 degrees in the south.

The noticeably colder weather is expected to last until at least Christmas.